THE POWER OF 10 MARANTZ DELIVERS REFERENCE GOLD

Transcription

1 THE POWER OF 10 MARANTZ DELIVERS REFERENCE GOLD ISSUE # $9.99 NZ$11.99 CONTOURS Dynaudio reveals the shape of things to come ESOTERIX Krix makes waves with its stereo stand-mounter

2 MARANTZ SA-10 SACD PLAYER PM-10 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER Story greg borrowman

3 MARANTZ SA-10 & PM-10 REFERENCE 10 SERIES MARANTZ SA-10 & PM-10 REFERENCE 10 SERIES THE DRIVE MECHANISM INSIDE THE SA-10 SACD PLAYER IS UNIQUE EVEN AMONGST MARANTZ S OWN STABLE OF CD AND SACD PLAYERS BECAUSE IT S MADE EXCLUSIVELY AND SPECIFICALLY FOR THE SA-10. Marantz was building classics. The equipment was so thoroughly engineered that once a product was finished, few changes were ever necessary. Marantz audio components have been manufactured continuously since 1952, when the first Marantz product, the Consolette pre-amplifier, went on sale at Harvey Radio s (now Harvey Electronics) on 6th Avenue in Manhattan. Needless to say, this makes the Marantz brand one of the longest-enduring in the hi-fi industry. It is also one of the few brands that has achieved both cult status amongst audiophiles and electronics engineers, while at the same time being a mass-market multinational marque. There is no better example of this than the fact that if you want to buy a 65-year-old Marantz Consolette in perfect working condition, they re still available for sale on various second-hand sites, and usually command prices in the vicinity of five thousand dollars. On the strength of around 100 sales of the Consolette and a huge backlog of orders, Saul established the Marantz Company in 1953, and opened a factory in Woodside to build them. Shortly afterwards he released the Consolette Model 1, which was the first preamplifier to include an RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) equalization curve. Although Saul Marantz was a handy electronics designer, his outstanding skills were in copywriting, graphic design, industrial design and photography (he was also a competent classical guitarist). All the heavy lifting on the electronics inside Marantz s early designs (Saul was solely responsible for the exteriors) was the work of famous electronics designer Sidney Smith. Smith became famous in the 1940s for designing an amplifier for RadioCraftsman that was the first low-cost Williamson-style low-distortion amplifier, but he was so impressed by the design of the Consolette Model 1 that he asked Saul if he could come and work for him at Marantz. Smith was subsequently responsible for the Marantz Model Seven stereo preamplifier, the Model Eight B stereo amplifier, the Model Nine monobloc, the Model Seven T preamplifier and the Model Fifteen power amplifier. Interestingly enough, electronics design was only a way for Smith to earn enough money to support his family. His real passion was singing he was trained as a tenor and particularly singing operatic roles, so during his tenure at Marantz he also performed with many of New York s smaller opera companies. Another famous name in Marantz early history is that of Richard Sequerra, who joined Marantz in 1961 to design an FM tuner. After more than three years of research and development, plus input from several consulting engineers, including Mitchell Cotter, Sequerra delivered what is probably the most famous FM tuner in history, the Marantz Model 10, which had an oscilloscope on its front panel instead of the usual signal strength and centre-channel meters. Although Sequerra is credited with the Model 10 s design, Sidney Smith also worked on it, and Saul Marantz is reported as once having said: Richard may have designed it, but it was Sid who made it work. In terms of Marantz s high-end credentials, we have it on record that no less a designer than Mark Levinson, founder of Mark Levinson, MLAS, Cello, Red Rose Music and Daniel Hertz, is a huge fan of Marantz designs so much so that he once asked Saul Marantz to evaluate one of his own early Levinson components. What impressed me about Marantz design was its elegant simplicity, its economy and symmetry, said Levinson. In a sense, Marantz was building classics. The equipment was so thoroughly engineered that, once a product was finished, few changes were ever necessary. The Marantz name has been valued so highly over the years that the company has been head-hunted many times in its history, first by giant US conglomerate SuperScope which, after it purchased Marantz in 1964, hired additional famous electrical engineering talents including Dawson Hadley (Hadley Labs), James Bongiorno (SAE, GAS, Sumo, harman/kardon), Bart Locanthi (JBL) and Edmund May (Frazer-May, JBL, Cetec-Gauss) and then in 1980 by the European giant Philips Electronics. Its current owner is Sound United, which owns Polk Audio and Definitive Technology, and which purchased Marantz (along with Denon and Boston Acoustics) from D+M Holdings in March (Despite selling the company to SuperScope, Saul Marantz stayed on as president of the company until his retirement in He then came out of retirement twice, the first time in 1972 to co-found Dahlquist with Jon Dahlquist where he remained president until 1978, and for the second time in 1996 to help form New Lineage Corporation and Eye Q Loudspeakers. He died in 1997 in Somerville, N.J., aged 85.) The two newest models for Marantz, just recently made available in Australia, are the Marantz SA-10 SACD player and the Marantz PM-10 integrated amplifier. We will be publishing full reviews of both components when they do become available, but in the meantime we thought we d give you a taste of their considerable attributes and capabilities MARANTZ SA-10 SACD PLAYER The Marantz SA-10 SACD player is Marantz s top-line machine, and it s unique amongst Marantz s own stable of CD and SACD players because it uses a drive mechanism (the SACD- M3) manufactured by Marantz specifically for this player and no other. There really is no way of making this kind of mechanism cheaply, so it s limited to our top-ofthe-range model, says Marantz s Brand Ambassador Ken Ishiwata, though he didn t rule out trickling down this drive mechanism s technology into future yet-to-be-announced models. Despite its drive designator (SACD-M3), the drive will also play ordinary CDs as well as SPECIFICATIONS MARANTZ SA-10 SACD PLAYER FREQUENCY RESPONSE (SACD): 2Hz~60kHz ( 3dB) FREQUENCY RESPONSE (CD): 2Hz~20kHz (±1dB) S/N RATIO (SACD): 112dB S/N RATIO (CD): 104dB DYNAMIC RANGE (SACD): 109dB DYNAMIC RANGE (CD): 98dB THD (CD): % (1kHz) THD (SACD): % (1kHz) HEADPHONE OUTPUT: 140mW (600Ω), 330mW (250Ω), 710mW (100Ω) POWER CONSUMPTION: 50 watts STANDBY CONSUMPTION: 0.3 watts DIMENSIONS (WHD): mm WEIGHT: 18.4kg PRICE: $9990 CONTACT: QualiFi Pty Ltd on

4 MARANTZ SA-10 & PM-10 REFERENCE 10 SERIES MARANTZ SA-10 & PM-10 REFERENCE 10 SERIES INPUT CAPABILITY MARANTZ SA-10 SACD PLAYER USB-B INPUT: DSD2.8/5.6/11.2MHz (1-bit), PCM 44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/ 192/352.8/384kHz at 16/24/32-bit DIGITAL COAXIAL INPUT: PCM: 44.1/48/64/88.2/96/ 176.4/192kHz at 16/24-bit DIGITAL OPTICAL INPUT: PCM: 44.1/48/64/88.2/96/176.4/ 192kHz at 16/24-bit USB-A INPUT: DSD: 2.8/5.6MHz (1-bit); WAV: 4.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/ 192kHz at 16/24-bit; FLAC: 44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/ 192 khz at 16/24 bit; ALAC: 44.1/48/88.2/96kHz at 16/24-bit; AIFF: 44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/ 192kHz at 16/24-bit; MP3: 44.1/48kHz (32 320kbps); WMA: 44.1/48kHz (48 320kbps); AAC: 44.1/48kHz (16 320kbps) high-resolution audio files stored on recordable media, either CD-R or DVD-ROM. The SA-10 s drive can read FLAC files from 32kHz to 192kHz at up to 24-bit resolution, plus DSD64 and DSD128, as well as Apple Lossless (ALAC) and AIFF. (And if you d like to go low-resolution, it will quite happily play MP3 files for you, so you can get thousands of hours of music playback from just a single disc.) From the time of CD players the transport was one of our strengths, and with SACD it s the same, says Ishiwata. Of course doing things this way is expensive, but if we want something special we have to do it and besides, there aren t many SACD mechanisms available today. The new SA-10 SACD player also features Marantz s Musical Mastering process a digital conversion process that converts digital signals to analogue signals without using a digital-toanalogue converter. What Marantz s Musical Mastering does is first to convert digital signals to a different type of digital signal (essentially, PCM to DSD) using upsampling, noise-shaping and dithering techniques developed by Marantz. Unlike most upsampling systems, which use simple 2 or 3 multipliers (upsampling from 44.1kHz to 88.2kHz, or from 48kHz to 96kHz, for example), the upsampler in Marantz s Musical Mastering system upsamples all the digital signals it receives to an 11.2 or 12.2MHz bitstream while at the same time increasing quantisation depth, with the potential for 48 bits of depth depending on the original signal. Once thus encoded, the only thing Marantz has to do to recover an analogue signal from the bitstream is to run it through an analogue high-pass filter. So although there s a digital-to-digital converter inside the SA-10, there is no digital-to-analogue converter as such, which is why Marantz is able to claim that its SA-10 is the first player/usb converter without a DAC. Marantz is able to claim this because in addition to playing optical media, you can also connect it to the digital output of any other type of device with a digital output, including a computer, because it has coaxial and optical digital inputs (and outputs) as well as USB-A and USB-B inputs, through which it can play high-res audio up to PCM/DXD 384kHz 32-bit as well as DSD64, DSD128 and DSD256 (DSD11.2MHz). This means there is no need to invest in a separate DAC for your system the Marantz SA-10 will be able to do all the decoding you need. The provision of such comprehensive DSD facilities on the SA-10 is no surprise, because when Philips owned Marantz, it developed the SACD format (in partnership with Sony) which uses DSD64. Music stored in DSD is a much more literal representation of the original analogue waveform of the sound recorded, and thus needs much less THE CIRCULAR DISPLAY HARKS ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE OSCILLO- SCOPE ON THE FRONT PANEL OF THE MARANTZ MODEL 10 FM TUNER. processing to turn it into audio able to be passed to an amplifier, says Ken Ishiwata. DSD is analogue. Externally, Marantz has maintained the classic lines for which the company is famous. Internally, in addition to the custom-made SACD drive, Marantz uses many components that it either makes in-house or has specifically made for it. For example, wherever the circuit calls for an operational amplifier (op-amp), Marantz doesn t use the off-the-shelf devices that are usually employed by other manufacturers, but instead uses its own Hyper Dynamic Amplifier Modules which it calls HDAMs several different types of which are available depending on where in the circuit they re to be used (HDAM-SA2, HDAM-SA3 etc). Marantz also uses custom-made capacitors and, in the SA-10, a custom-wound toroidal transformer. MARANTZ PM-10 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER Marantz is on record as saying that it considers the new PM-10 to be the best integrated amplifier it has ever built which, when you consider the number of integrated amplifiers the company has designed and built over the years, is no small claim! In fact, if you look at the circuitry of the PM-10 it s essentially three components in a single chassis: a preamplifier and a pair of monobloc power amplifiers. This means the PM-10 is enormously powerful for an integrated amplifier, with Marantz claiming a power output of 200 watts continuous per channel into 8-ohm loads and 400 watts continuous per channel into 4-ohm loads. The PM-10 s ability to deliver these high-power levels from such a compact chassis, without visible heat-sinking, is because Marantz is using Class-D amplifiers. These amplifiers are often erroneously called digital amplifiers, in the mistaken belief that the D in Class-D stands for digital. In fact, the letter is just indicative of way the output transistors operate, just as the other types of amplifiers (Class A, Class B, Class C, Class G, Class H, etc) use letters to indicate how their output transistors operate. However, instead of using just one Class-D amplifier for each channel, Marantz uses two amplifiers per channel, with the amplifiers operated in bridged mode. Marantz describes the advantage of using two amplifiers in bridged mode to drive a single loudspeaker in the following terms: In a conventional amplifier, one speaker is driven by the positive and negative part of one single output stage per channel, but a bridged amplifier does things differently using two separate amplifier stages per channel to drive one speaker. To greatly simplify things: one amp pushes the speaker cones and domes, while the other pulls them back. This enables much greater control over the way the speaker drive units behave, in that the amplifier can make them start moving and stop moving much more precisely, which is important for the definition and speed of the system, meaning it can play music with much better rhythmic and spatial control, not to mention making voices and instruments sound more realistic. The PM-10 uses two switch-mode power supplies (SMPS) to power the output stages, and a toroidal power transformer to power the

5 SPECIFICATIONS MARANTZ PM-10 INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER preamplifier stage. Because of the balanced nature of the output stage, Marantz s designers have taken the opportunity to use fully balanced circuitry throughout the PM-10. They ve also taken the renewed interest in vinyl to heart, and included a phono stage that caters for both moving-coil and moving-magnet cartridges. Rather than use integrated circuits in this phono stage, Marantz instead uses discrete components. Also, rather than integrate the circuitry on any of the other printed circuit boards inside the PM-10, the circuitry is contained on its own PCB, which is positioned inside a shielded case within the main chassis to reduce noise. As with the SA-10, Marantz uses its own HDAMs (HDAM-SA3s) in the PM-10. These HDAMs are made using discrete electronic components, not integrated circuits. The HDAM-SA3 is used as a part of the current feedback topology that s designed to deliver the widest possible frequency and dynamic ranges just the thing for today s ultra-high resolution audio formats, says Ishiwata. Given the symmetry of the circuit layout, it wasn t surprising to find the front panel of the PM-10 also laid out symmetrically, with the large rotary volume control on the right balanced by the identically-sized rotary input selector on the left hand side of the front panel. And, rather than use a conventional rectangular front panel display, Marantz has echoed the two rotary controls with a similarly-sized circular front panel display, which harks all the way back to the oscilloscope on the front panel of the Marantz Model 10 FM tuner. Saul would have been pleased! POWER OUTPUT: 200-watts/channel (8Ω); 300-watts per channel (4Ω) FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 5Hz-50kHz THD: 0.005% DAMPING FACTOR: 500 LINE INPUT SENSITIVITY: 440mV/20kΩ (unbalanced) LINE INPUT SENSITIVITY: 880mV/40kΩ (balanced) S/N RATIO: 111 db PHONO INPUT SENSITIVITY (MM): 2.6mV/47kΩ PHONO INPUT SENSITIVITY (MC): 280µV/33Ω (MC-LOW); 280µV/133Ω (MC-HIGH) PHONO S/N RATIO: 88/76dB (MM/MC) POWER CONSUMPTION: 270 watts STANDBY CONSUMPTION: 0.3 watts DIMENSIONS (WDH): mm WEIGHT: 21.5kg PRICE: $12,990 CONTACT: QualiFi Pty Ltd on

6 MARANTZ REFERENCE 10 SERIES LISTENING SESSION EINDHOVEN Marantz officially launched its new 10 Series reference source and amplifier in Eindhoven, Holland, with a demonstration from Ken Ishiwata himself. Jason Kennedy went along to hear them. In Europe Marantz held another unique launch event for the new Reference Series, in a venue suiting its musical prowess. We felt there would be no better venue than the one that holds one of the world s best acoustics: The Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, says Niels Hardeman of D+M Benelux. Our guests received a guided tour of the venue and after lunch their ears were treated to a wonderful 10-series demonstration from Ken Ishiwata himself. Designer Ken Ishiwata first demonstrated the SA-10 SACD player/dac and PM-10 integrated amp at Munich High End 2016, but the new Reference Series received its formal launch only at the end of that year. I got to hear these products in Ken s enviable listening room designed by the late W. Vier a stretched hexagon-shaped room that combines surfaces that provide absorption, diffusion and reflection in order to provide an analytical yet enjoyable listening experience. On this visit the speakers being used with the Marantz Reference components were the Q Acoustics Concept 500 floorstanders, then only recently launched. Ken is a good friend of those speakers designer, Karl-Heinz Fink, and is clearly impressed with the new model. And they did sound pretty fabulous with the new 10 series electronics in this remarkable room. Ken used JRiver on a Macbook for most of the demonstrations, so we got to hear the DAC rather than the disc spinner for the most part. It sounded very good indeed, imaging in particular being in another league, with remarkable frontback layering and as much height and width as each recording allowed. After the reference track demonstrations it was possible to play some discs, and I put on a copy of Tom Waits Swordfishtrombones that I d picked up secondhand in Eindhoven the night before. Never has it sounded as well separated and precisely laid out (although I had, until then, only heard the vinyl). The PM-10 takes flagship position in the Marantz range, replacing the SC-7 preamp and MA-9 monoblocks so the move to a single box is pretty radical. It s by no means a cost-saving decision, however. This is a fully-balanced, dualmono design with a bridged output specified to deliver 200 watts into eight ohms, and 300 watts into four. Marantz is describing the power amp section as an analogue switched mode design, a radical move for a brand that has not used this technology before. Ken Ishiwata explained that this was partly necessary because today s speakers are all current-hungry. But it has also been done because he feels that Marantz has managed to get sound quality out of the design that matches expectations for a Reference product. The PM-10 is effectively three amplifiers in one box a preamplifier with linear power supply, and two bridged mono power amplifiers, each with its own switched mode supply. Being bridged means that there are two channels of amplification per stereo channel, an arrangement that delivers high power and keeps the return signal (from KEN ISHIWATA DEMONSTRATES THE MARANTZ REFERENCE COMPO- NENTS THROUGH THE Q ACOUSTIC CONCEPT 500 LOUDSPEAKERS IN HIS STRETCHED- HEXAGON-SHAPED LISTENING ROOM DESIGNED BY THE LATE W. VIER. Tom Waits Swordfishtrombones had never sounded as well separated and precisely laid out (although I had, until then, only heard the vinyl)... the speaker) away from ground, a method that is usually expensive but delivers lower noise than the more common single ended varieties. The amp has both high power and a high damping factor so it should be able to control the majority of loudspeakers. The switched mode aspect of the design means that it is a Class-D power amp but Marantz is keen to point out that D does not stand for digital. They re not wrong. The SA-10 follows a line of reference disc spinners that started with the first bitstream DAC design, the CD-15 in 1994, and went through the multibit CD-7 in 1998 and was last seen as the SA-7S1 in The new SA-10 incorporates the Marantz Musical Mastering filtering system that turns PCM signals into DSD-style bitstreams using oversampling and a DAC that s not a DAC according to Rainer Finck who works with Ishiwata on digital electronics. Two clocks oversample all incoming PCM signals up to MHz or MHz, using sample multiples up to 256. This allows the converter proper to work at a one-bit level. But Marantz says that it has replaced the critical element of the converter with technology that is at patent application stage, so not much was said about it, save that it solves the problem of square wave issues caused by multiple 1 or 0 signals in a row. Another interesting angle is the presence of alternative filter setting options to optimise music and measurement. The default slow roll-off setting is said to sound best, but Marantz has included a sharp roll-off option that measures well. The same applies to the noise shaping where the third-order shaping set as default doesn t look as good on paper as the fourth-order option but again is more musically convincing in KI s view. As he puts it we have to keep the tech journalists happy. Also separating the CD-10 from the pack is the ability to play FLAC, AIFF and DSD from a DVD-R disc. During the demonstration Ken Ishiwata mentioned that the original Model 10 from Marantz was an FM tuner designed by Richard Sequerra, a tube design that was so complex it effectively bankrupted original owner Saul B Marantz. Let s hope this new 10 Series is rather less disruptive! Jason Kennedy